And wil



2 Sheets-.-Sheet 1 (no Model.)

W. E. SHELBY, J1", 8v" W; L HOFPECKER.

OAR GOUPLING.

- Patented Feb. 19, 1895.

(No Mode'l.') 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. E. SHELBY, Jr. 8v W. L. HOFFEOKER.

GAR COUPLING.

N 534,350, Patened Feb. 19, 1895.

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U ITED.- STATES PATENT F QE.

WILLIAM ELMER sEELEY, JR, 0 BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, AND WIL- LIAM L.HOFFEOKER, on ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY; SAID HOFFEOKER ASSIGNOR orONE-SIXTH AND SAID SEELEY ASSIGNOR TO FRANK A.

FOX, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CAR-COUPL|NG.'

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 534,350, dated February19, 1895.

Application filed November 26, 1894. Serial No. 529,954:- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM ELMER SEELEY, Jr., residing at Bridgeport,in the county of Fairfield and State'of Connecticut, and WILLIAM L.HOFFECKER, residing at Y Elizabeth, in the county of Union and Statehereby declare the following to be a full, clear, 7

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to car couplings, but more particularly tocouplings of the Janney type.

The primary object of our invention is to providemeans, whereby theknuckle may be positively thrown in position to be coupled with anopposed coupling simultaneously with the unlocking of said knuckle; toprovide means for automatically shifting the knucklelocking device, sothat there shall be less strain and jar of the locking mechanism thanusually results from the use of such means as have heretofore beenemployed; and to provide means for automatically locking the knucklewhen the same is forced inwardly."

A further object of the invention is to provide simple, effioient anddurable locking and unlocking mechanism which may be applied,

to various designs of couplers.

With these and other objects in view the in Vention consists in theconstruction and combination of the several parts as will be more fullyhereinafter described, and then defined in the claims at the end of thedescription.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, Figure 1 is a sectional .plan view of the coupler head,the section being taken on the line I-I of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection of the same on the line IIII of Fig. 1, illustrating inelevation thelocking and unlocking mechanism. Fig. 3 is a detailperspective view of the knuckle-locking device. Fig. 4 is a de- Fig. 5is a bottom sectional view or inverted sectional plan taken on the lineV-V of Fig. 2, and Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken on the line VIVIof Fig. 2.

In the drawings we have shown the invention as applied to a coupler of apreferred form, though it is obvious that the same may be applied toother designs of couplers if so desired. In this form A designates thecoupler head having the shank A which is preferably square throughoutits length and is provided with internal strengthening ribs a extendingrearwardly from the coupler head. The knuckle B is pivoted to the headin the usual or any preferred manner and has an inner portion ortail-piece 19 arranged at an angle and adapted to fit into a recess ofthe coupler head in which it may be locked by a sliding block or lockingdevice 0.

The sliding block 0 may be. approximately rectangular in form andarranged edgewise in a recess 0 in the coupler head, and is preventedfrom moving laterally therein by the ribs or webs 0, 0 which form theside walls of said recess. This block is adapted to be moved or shiftedrearwardly in the coupler head either positively or automatically, thelatter being accomplished by providing a cam or carn surface 19 on thehub or boss of the knuckle B, preferably located above the tailknuckleis forced inwardly. This cam extends outwardly from the knucklesufficiently to throw the block a distance slightly in excess of thesurface which contacts with the tail-piece b for locking said knuckle,so that the tailpiece may readily pass through a recess 0 in the forwardedge of the block without touching the same. By this means the block orlocking device is moved directly by the cam or cam surface on the hub ofthe knuckle, and not by the end of the tail-piece of the knuckle, asheretofore, which strikes the locking device more or less broadside andwith a sudden thrust which jars and strains the locking mechanism.

For positively moving the block 0 we provide an angular lever D whichmay be pivoted to suitable lugs or projections d on the upper surface ofthe coupler by the pintle cl which is preferably arranged in aperturesin said lugs in such manner as to prevent the same from working loose,as best shown in Fig. 6. This lever D has an arm 62 which passes throughan elongated slot 61 in the coupler head, the lower end of said armbeing preferably rounded to enter a recess d in the block 0, whichrecess is of sufficient depth to permit the proper movement of the endof said arm. The outer arm 01 of the lever D is of suflicient weight toautomatically throw the block forward so as to lock the knuckle afterthe same has been raised, and has a link or chain d connected thereto byan eye (F, or otherwise, by which the leverD may be tilted on its pivotto unlock the knuckle; the said chain being operatedor raised in anydesired manner.

To place the knuckle B in coupling position simultaneously with theunlocking of said knuckle, we provide a lever E which may have on one ofits ends a pin or projection 6 engaging an aperture in a recessedportion of the boss of the knuckle, while the other end has a lug orprojection e which extends upwardly and is engaged by the downwardlyprojecting end or projection e of the arm 8 the latter being locatedbetween the recess 0* and the recess 6 the said recess permitting freeplay or 'movement of the block within certain limits. The play or lostmotion of the arm 6 of the block, without engaging the lever E, issufficient to permit the block to be moved rearwardly to disengage thecontacting surfaces of said block and the tail-piece of the knuckle, andis equivalent to the throw of the cam 19 otherwise the knuckle might bemoved outwardly, thereby preventing the proper working of the lockingmechanism.

The operation of the locking and unlocking mechanism will be readilyunderstood from the foregoing description. It will be seen should thecoupler be in the position shown in Fig. 5, that by forcing the knuckleinwardly, the cam b will engage the edge 0 of the locking block 0,thereby forcing the same rearwardly a snflicient distance to per mit thetailpiece b of the knuckle to pass through the recess 0 of said block.At this time the lever D, which will have been raised by the movement ofthe block, will, by the weight of the end (1 of said lever, cause saidblock to move forward, thereby locking the tail-piece of the knuckle inthe recess of the coupler-head.

Should it be desired to unlock the knuckle, the lever D is tilted on itspivot, which, through the arm 61 of said lever will throw the blockrearwardly. WVhen said block has moved a sufficient distance to bedisengaged from the tail-piece b, the end e of the arm IE will engagethe end e of the lever E and cause the knuckle to be swung on its pivotand be positively thrown in coupling position. By releasing the lever Dthe block will again return to the position shown in Fig. 5, when theoperation may be repeated.

We do not wish to be confined to the exact construction and arrangementof parts shown as the same may be varied without departing from thespirit of our invention. For instance, the lever D may engage aprojection on the sliding block; or the end e of the arm E might engagea slot in the lever E, or the end e of said lever engage a slot in theblock.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The combination, with a coupler-head and an angular knuckle pivotallyconnected thereto, of a locking device adapted to engage and lock theknuckle, and a cam arranged near the axis of rotation of said knuckleadapted to contact directly with the aforesaid locking device and movethe same out of the path of the'tail-piece of said knuckle when saidtail-piece is moving inward, substan'tially as described.

2. In a car coupling, the combination with a coupler-head and a knucklehaving a tailpiece pivotally connected thereto, of a looking blockslidingly held in the coupler-head and adapted to permit the passage ofthe tailpiece, and a cam on said knuckle near the axis of rotationthereof adapted to contact with the forward edge of said block, togetherwith means for automatically restoring the block to locking position,substantially as de scribed.

3. The combination with a coupler-head and an angular knuckle pivotallyconnected thereto, of a longitudinally-slidable locking block arrangedin the coupler-head, means for operating said block, and an armextending from the block integral therewith having a lostmotionconnection with a rotating element of said knuckle whereby the latter issimultaneously opened and unlocked, substantially as described.

4:. The combination with a coupler-head and a knuckle pivotallyconnected thereto, of a longitudinally slidable locking block arrangedin the coupler-head having a projecting arm, means for operating saidblock by the rotation of the knuckle, and a lever pivoted to the knuckleand having a lost-motion connection with the aforesaid arm of said blockwhereby the knuckle may be simultaneously opened and unlocked,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

WVILLIAM ELMER SEELEY, JR. \VILLIAM L. HOFFEQKER.

itnesses:

FRANK. A. Fox, M. E. COHEN.

